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Kheerni is thickened milk with Cardamoms, Saffron and a number of rich mild spices. Basically it is the Indian version of rice pudding. Sindhi's normally make this a bit milky and not as thick as Phirni or rice pudding, but I like the thicker creamier version and that too cold. But in a Sindhi household you will get a hot version and most of the time with semiya.

In the picture below on the left is the thicker version and on the right is the lighter version.

Ingredients500 gms half and half cream (10% milk) 250 gms milk (I used 2%)5 cardamom pod 1/4 cup finely ground rice (Soaked for 1/2 and hour and then ground, you can add more or less depending on taste) 1/2 cup sugar (reduce or add more sugar according to taste) 4 tablespoons blanched slivered almond 2 tablespoons raisins (Soaked in water for at least 1 hour)

Method

Pour the half and half and 2% milk into a wide and thick, preferably non-stick pan.

Add the cardamom pods and bring to a boil without letting the milk spill over.

Quickly turn heat to medium.

Sprinkle the ground rice slowly into the pan, stirring occasionally.

Add the sugar.

Stir now and then cooking till the rice is cooked.

Add the raisins and almonds.

For the Sindhi lighter version, stop here and add more milk when reheating if too thick.

For the thicker version simmer until the pudding has thickened to a creamy consistency, turning the heat down a bit towards the end.

Bring to room temperature,Refrigerate for 2-3 hours until cold and set.

When Jhiva for Love was announced there was no doubt I had to dedicate it to my parents. My love for cooking has without doubt come from my mother, even when I was small she introduced me to international recipes, she would make the best ravioli from scratch at home and those days in India Italian was yet to catch up. I was and maybe am still a fussy eater, I would never eat what was made at home like if we had upma for breakfast and they put vegetables in it I would not eat it, I never liked most of the vegetables and till date do not like fruits. Being in a joint family I would always get you should learn to eat everything from everyone else, but mom would know and would always make something that I never fussed with a yummy Grilled cheese sandwich.

Papa who never entered the kitchen too, once when I was in the hospital after an accident, and would not eat the food there and mama could not go home to cook one day and get food came to the hospital with a big surprise. He had made a yummy grilled sandwich for me just so that I eat something and he knew I would not say no to a cheese sandwich. It was one of the best sandwiches I would have had that too from someone who never cooked.

The Grilled cheese sandwich has grown as I have from just amul cheese with salt and pepper to adding sun dried tomatoes. Here is one version of the grilled sandwich

Sun dried Tomatoes Grilled Sandwich

Ingredients4 slices bread (I used rye bread as that was in hand on that day)2 tbsp white sauce (recipe to follow)chopped onions to taste2 sun dried tomatoes, chopped (if using the dry ones, keep them in warm water for 10 minutes or as per the instructions)2 tbsp olives, sliced2 tbsp tomato ketchup4 tbsp Cheddar cheese (feel free to use any kind of cheese available)salt and pepper to taste

Method

Apply white sauce to 2 slices of bread.

Top these 2 slices with the onions, sun dried tomatoes, olives, salt and pepper.

Apply ketchup to the other 2 slices and place them on the other 2 slices.

Grill them on the grill, sandwich toaster or on the tava.

Serve with extra ketchup or pudina chutney.

I was thinking that this would be a tribute to mama and papa who knew me the best and knew just the right thing to do to get a smile on my face, but I was in for a surprise. This weekend I was not too well and so could not cook anything so my husband ( my listen) offered to make dinner, his speciality being maggie noodles, an omelet or a sandwich which included mayonnaise and cucumbers. He asked me if he should make an omelet, I told him no since we just had one egg, he then said ok leave it to me. I usually would go in to investigate or help but this time was in no mood to do so, heard a lot of commotion in the kitchen but decided to just be happy that I am getting dinner. He came back with this yummy Egg Salad Grilled Sandwich, not sure if he read my mind or read this post which was in the drafts from one week but it reminded me of mama and papa and I could not complete this post by saying thanks to my husband too. Well he sat to explain how he came up with this egg salad, he used up all my left overs and emptied the fridge. So here goes the recipe

Make the sandwich by placing the romaine leaves on a bread and then a big spoon of the egg salad. Top with the second slice of bread.

my husband served it with more romaine leaves and ketchup.

This post is a tribute to the 3 most important people in my life, who make life worth living. Thank you mama, papa and listen for being there for me in every step of life, god knows how I would deal with life if you guys were not around. Love you all. This is my contribution to the Jhiva For Love event hosted by Jigyasa and Prathiba.

I don't remember having this in India, and as usual every week I pick up something new to try from the grocery store and this time it was Rutabaga, did a Google search only to pleasantly realize that its nothing but a turnip or shalgum and is widely used in Indian cooking. I saw many recipes for it but then my Punjabi neighbour aunt told me this recipe to have with puris and we loved it. Now we have a new addition to our menu and so many recipes to try.

A simple, light and delicious recipe made with tomatoes, can be eaten with puri or roti or can be had just like that as a soup. We can easily substitute kaddu with any other vegetable like potato, turai.

This is my contribution to the Monthly Blog Patrol-April: One Pot Wonders, I have since been browsing blogs and had so many options. I finally decided to make the Pudina Biryani from Andhra Flavors - For Spicy Lovers Blog. I loved the color of the dish and was healthy too. I did make a few changes, I added some coriander leaves and onions as well, ground everything to a paste together, did not use beetroot since did not have them at home instead used a bowl of mixed vegetables. This is an easy recipe but still very delicious, loved the addition of pudina (mint).

This is a wadi made from wheat flour or roti/chapati/phulka dough. It quite often that we have left over roti/chapati/phulka dough that is going black in the fridge. This is when in Sindhi's they make the mukandar wadi, and make a curry out of it. I have shown the basic way of making it, you can use any left over dough, add onions, green chilies and any kind of masala to it.

Ingredients

For the Wadi1/2 cup left over roti/chapati/phulka dough, you can make fresh too if you want.

Place it in a pressure cooker and cook it for about 10 minutes, around 3 whistles. (how rice is steamed in a pressure cooker, if you do not have the vessel for it, place 1/2 cup of any dal in the bottom , keep the dough on top, add water and steam). If using a steamer, steam it for 10 minutes.

After steaming the dough would have become hard, cut it into cubes and deep fry them.

Heat some oil in a pressure cooker, add the chopped onions. Fry them till they are golden brown.

(Tumeric Rice)Been long since I posted some Sindhi recipe, this is a simple yellow rice, just to add some color to the food and get the benefits of turmeric. Cooked like how you would normally make rice just with a pinch of turmeric.

Bake it in the oven, cook on the tandoor, grill them on the barbecue or just cook them on the tawa, this is one dish that will vanish the minute its on the table. We normally like to eat this as a side dish to any dal recipe.

This is a simple but yet lovely breakfast for a summer morning, though its supposed to be summer here like yesterday but we had some flurries on Saturday night, I could not stop my self from making this.

This month I joined the Daring Bakers and will be in from next month, ever since I sent the email I was wondering if I could do justice. I have baked a little, like cake muffins and cookies but never used yeast. I am an amateur baker but love to learn more that's why I decided to join them. So I decided to play with yeast before I start and maybe then I am more confident.

So I went to the store to buy all that I needed for bread and when I went to get the yeast there were 2 kinds of yeast instant yeast and dry active yeast, did not know which would be used to make a bread so bought both. I bought Robin Hoods Best for Bread Flour. I was looking for an easy bread recipe when I landed up in Robin Hoods website and decided to follow their Basic White Bread Recipe, I was using their flour any ways.

It took me one week to get the courage to start and this Sunday was the day, the yeast came out and the flour too. I followed the recipe religiously and at the end was very proud of my bread.

The recipe was for 2 loaves, so I made a loaf with one half and shaped the other into buns which were not that round but tasted great. I am now so excited and already plan to make different kinds of bread, with herbs onions.

The recipe is great though, over here it took 2 and half hours for the dough to rise and even the second rise was the same. It was tea time when the buns finally came out of the oven and we enjoyed the fresh hot buns with a cup of Chai/ Tea.

I normally do not eat bitter gourd, but when Pooja announced the Vegetable of the month Bitter Gourd and Mom decided to visit me, I requested her to buy just 2 Bitter Gourds since I do not get it where I stay. I told her just 2 since she is the only one who eats it. I had planned to make my Grand - Ma - In Laws Dhaas Karela recipe, which my mom loves and had been telling me to make them for her. But my mom being my mom actually cooked the karelas and came and that too lots of it. Well initially I was a little upset, but then papa told me that from when she has started making Karela this way even he has started eating it. So then I thought if Papa can eat it so can I and gave it a shot and loved it and actually wanted more, even my husband who never ate it enjoyed it and wants me to make it more often now. So thank you mom for finally getting us used to eating bitter gourd, you have succeeded. And thanks to Pooja from My Creative Ideas to chose Vegetable of the Week -Bitter Gourd for the event this month

A rich creamy soup, with spinach and mushrooms. Cloves in this recipe helps when someone has a sour throat or a running nose. Serve it hot with toasted bread.

Cloves are know for its Medicinal Purposes but if had in large amounts it could be Toxic too.

Toxicity - Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CloveLarge amounts should be avoided in pregnancy. Cloves can be irritating to the gastrointestinal tract, and should be avoided by people with gastric ulcers, colitis, or irritable bowel syndrome. In overdoses, cloves can cause vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Severe cases can lead to changes in liver function, dyspnea, loss of consciousness, hallucination, and even death. The internal use of the essential oil should be restricted to 3 drops per day for an adult as excessive use can cause severe kidney damage.

Ever Since I have been blogging, I am so delighted to find different cusines on different blogs, I have booked marked so many and hope I can get to try them all. Last week I got 2 try of the recipes and both were delicious.

Pooja's Methi Ni KadhiMy husband and myself love Methi in every form so when I dropped on Pooja's Methi Ni Kadhi I had to try it and it was really good. I did make few changes, I made the yogurt kadhi like what we normally make and then added Methi Leaves to it. She has garlic, cinnamon and cloves to her kadhi which I did not add. Thank you Pooja for this recipe

After reading so much about Nupur's Pav Bhajji I had to try it, I was giving my husband a surprise birthday party last week and decided to make the pav bhajji. Everyone loved it and I had to quickly grab a bit before it got over to take a picture, I know I am missing the Pav and the onions in the picture that is due the the commotion at home during that time and I had to quickly take the picture before nothing was left. This will now always be my pav bhajji recipe that I will be making I might add about 1/4 cup of mixed vegetables (carrots, beans) the next time just to add more nutrients. Who would have ever thaught that cauliflower would do the trick, usually my pav bhajji was made with onions, tomatoes , mixed vegetables and lots of potatoes. Thank you Nupur for sharing such a wonderful recipe.

I did not make any change to Nupur's recipe except that I used "Badshah's Bombay Pav Bhajji Masala" instead of Everest. You can click on the link above for the original recipe.

A quick, easy and creamy gravy made with sour cream. A sure crowd pleaser, we did not know what to call this dish and then my husband came up with the name "Lazeez Paneer", I am not sure if there is a recipe out there for "Lazeez Paneer", if there is I would love to know and any suggestion on what to call this recipe would be great.

This is a easy and tasty snack with different filling's rolled inside a slice of bread. A quick and easy snack to make if you have some bread at hand. The filling can be anything that you have in your fridge or pantry. I made a mixed vegetable filling and a ricotta cheese filling.

Pour some milk or water in a plate and dip each slice in the milk or Water.

Place the bread between your palms and gently squeeze to get the excess milk or water out.

Place a portion of the filling mixture in each slice and wrap it around and cover the mixture completely,to get an oval shape.

Continue with the remaining bread slices.

Deep fry them or bake them in an oven.

Serve with ketchup or chutney.

Note To bake them, cover a cookie sheet with aluminium foil, place the rolls and drizzle some oil or butter on the rolls. Coat the rolls well with oil. And bake in preheated oven at 350 F, till golden brown and crisp. Cool and Serve.

Gosh.. Its been a month now that I have been blogging and have loved every moment. Still getting to know everyone around here. I would always drop by one of your blogs searching my way for a recipe through google but never once thaught I should start a blog of my own. but then one day last week I realized that you just need a gmail account and a blog can be started and thats when I started and decided to share some of the sindhi recipes.

I love the event's that takes place, they gives us the inspiration to try something new. My husband too loves the dishes that I make from other bloggers and loves the variety. He is too so inspired that last Friday he made dinner for me, he knows to cook 3 things, Maggie Noodles, Omelette and Tea. So this time it was Omelette and did he do a good job. He said ok I want you to post this on your blog and he made sure his plate looks good and made me take a snap. He called it Listen's Omelette. Well we are not allowed to call are dear husbands by name as many of you must know so I address my husband as Listen so thats why the name is Listens Omelette. So I decided to celebrate my First Month with this recipe.

Mix all the ingridients together and cook in a pan with a little butter. Serve with bread

He also had a piece of banana and methi leaves (He mistook them for corriander leaves) Initially I removed and gave him everything but while platting he took the methi leaves thinking they are corriander leaves. The banana is to kill the spicy omelette. Except for the methi leaves everything was perfectly made and the best dinner I would have got.

Bisi Belle Bath is a Karnataka dish, easy to make and very very tasty and filling. There are many kinds of bisi bele bath, using mixed vegetables, pearl onions, avlaikai. I like to make it with all them.

When I was browsing through many blogs I found that I was throwing away a very nutrious green every week -- the radish leaves never knew we could cook with them. I dont eat radish but we get 2 bunches every week as my husband loves to munch on them.

I started off to make Maheks version for the simple reason there was enough dal and since I never like the bitter taste of radish I thought maybe the dal will help a bit and I can pick and eat. But as soon as I started cleaning the radish leaves the smell was a bit too much for me to handle so then I decided to make bisi bele bath with the leaves maybe with all the vegetables and spices I dont get the bitter taste and maybe then I would get used to the radish taste. The reasult was great, I did get the taste of the leaves but it was not to bad at all. Will probably try making one of the above recipes next time.

Finally the recipe for Radish Leaves Bisi Bele Bath, this is my good friend Radha's recipe I learnt to make this from her when I was in Bangalore, I just added the radish leaves and used MTR Sambhar powder instead of her home made sambhar powder which I miss a lot.

Varyoon or Punjabi Wadis are dried spiced lentil balls. Many Punjabi's make them at home, but we have always bought them ready. They are pretty spicy depending on which ones you buy. The Amritsari Wadis are the most famous among the Sindhi's. Cooked in Fried onion and Tomato gravy they taste delicious with plain rice and onions.

Shortbreads are traditionally a Christmas cookie that blends butter, sugar, and flour to make a rich and delicate tasting cookie (biscuit). They contain only a few ingredients so it is imperative to use a good quality butter and never use margarine. Shortbread dough is very versatile and while delicious plain,you can make them more flavorful by adding chocolate chips, instant espresso powder, finely chopped orange or lemon zest or dried cranberries.

The texture of shortbread can also be changed by replacing 1/4 cup (35 grams) of the flour with rice flour to give them a slightly crunchy texture. Or, for a more delicate tasting shortbread with a melt-in-your-mouth texture, replace 1/2 cup (70 grams) of the flour with cornstarch (corn flour). Shortbreads can be cut into various shapes using your favorite cookie cutter, baked in a tart pan, or else as fingers. If you like, sprinkle the baked cookies with granulated white sugar or dip the ends of the shortbread in melted chocolate. The variations are endless but all produce a wonderful tasting cookie that is perfect any time of the day. (Source:Joy of Baking)

Heat oven to 325F with a rack in the centre. Whip butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a free-standing mixer. Add flour and cornstarch/rice flour and salt in batches and beat until all are combined, but not too creamy. Stir in cranberries.

Pat dough evenly into a 9" x 17" cookie tray or lay a parchment paper on the tray. Bake until just beginning to turn golden, about 20 - 25 minutes. Place pan on cooling rack until cool enough to touch, about 15 minutes. Using a 1 ½" - 2" heart cookie cutter, cut out cookies, removing from cookie sheet and leaving to cool completely on cooling rack. Use a paring knife to trim stray bits of cranberry from edges.

Since the dough is cooked and you can't re-roll the stray bits, you'll just have to eat them.